Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

City Pays $50K to Settle Lawsuit of Bullied Sixth-Grader Who Killed Herself

By James Fanelli | October 7, 2014 1:24pm
 The city paid $50,000 to the family of Maria Herrera, a sixth-grader who killed herself after being bullied at her Brooklyn school for more than a year.
The city paid $50,000 to the family of Maria Herrera, a sixth-grader who killed herself after being bullied at her Brooklyn school for more than a year.
View Full Caption
WABC-TV/Channel 7

EAST NEW YORK — The family of a sixth-grader who committed suicide after her classmates chipped her tooth, injured her leg and tormented her for more than a year received $50,000 from the city as part of a settlement over her death, court records show.

Maria Herrera hanged herself at her East New York home when she was 12 on April 7, 2008 — even though her mother made several complaints to officials at the girl’s school, P.S. 72, that other students brutally bullied her, according to court documents.

The mother, Mercedes Herrera, also claimed in a lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court in 2009 that more than a year before her death, her daughter told a teacher that she wanted to kill herself because of the abuse, but school officials didn’t fully follow Department of Education regulations for responding to the threat.

 The city paid $50,000 to the family of Maria Herrera, a sixth-grade student at P.S. 72 in East New York who killed herself in 2008.
The city paid $50,000 to the family of Maria Herrera, a sixth-grade student at P.S. 72 in East New York who killed herself in 2008.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/James Fanelli

“Maria was my daughter. She was a wonderful young girl who underwent torturous bullying at her public school and eventually took her own life when she hanged herself,” Mercedes said in an affidavit.

The city agreed to settle the lawsuit for $50,000 in August 2013 after a judge denied its motion to dismiss the case, court records show.

The settlement came to light last month after Mercedes’ lawyer, David Hoines, requested in Brooklyn Surrogate’s Court that the money be distributed to her. Hoines said in the legal filing that he determined the $50,000 settlement was the best outcome.

"The case was a complicated one which argues for settlement rather than trying the case to verdict," he wrote. "That is, the school was claiming government immunity ... that the incident occurred off school grounds and that they had in fact delayed or eliminated the threat of suicide."

In an affidavit Mercedes said that she met with school officials about the incessant bullying when her daughter was a fifth-grader during the 2006-2007 school year.

In January 2007 Maria also told a teacher that she wanted to commit suicide. A guidance counselor spoke to Maria about her threat and then talked to her mother about seeking a therapist, according to court records.

Mercedes said that her daughter assured her that she wasn't serious about committing suicide, so they never sought counseling.

“Now that I’ve learned so much more about children and suicide, I understand that it is very common for a child to not want to ‘deal’ with authority figures and will on the outside appear fine; however, the child will still think about and often carry out the suicide threat,” Mercedes said in her affidavit.

The mother said her not understanding the severity of the suicide is why the Education Department has regulations in place for officials to follow when a threat is made. Mercedes said the school officials failed to follow the guidelines, which includes notifying the school principal and the creating a plan of action.

“Because the emotional and mental issues are so complicated in a child threatening suicide, it is the reason why the regulations exist, must be followed and why just informing the parent is clearly not sufficient, yet that is what the defendants did in this matter,” she said in the affidavit.

After getting assurances from school officials during Maria’s fifth-grade year that the bullying would end, Mercedes said she allowed her daughter to stay at the same school for sixth grade.

But in November 2007 her daughter would complain every other day that her schoolmates were tormenting her, according to court records.

One schoolmate intentionally tripped Maria, injuring her leg, according to her mother’s affidavit. Maria had to be treated at Brookdale Hospital and had to where a soft cast for month and use crutches.

Shortly thereafter, another student threw a basketball at Maria, hitting her face and chipping a tooth, the affidavit says.

In March, a month before her death, a female classmate came up behind Maria and snipped a “good portion of her hair off,” the affidavit says.

Mercedes said after the hair-cutting incident, she visited the school the following day and was assured by the parent coordinator that the bullying would end. However, one month later, Mercedes killer herself.

The city Law Department declined to comment on the specifics of the case but said in a statement that, "We hope the settlement of this matter helps bring closure to the family."

Mercedes and her lawyer did not respond to requests for comment.